Andy
Traveller
4 comments
Posted 16 years ago
Hey everybody,
I'm planning to do some low-budget bumming around Europe this summer, and I'm not sure which option would be cheaper. Ryanair has some ridiculously low prices, but the airports they fly to are in the middle of nowhere so there are also extra costs. Has anyone tried both Ryanair and Interrail? I'd appreciate some feedback.
Cheers,
Andy
Peter
Traveller
9331 comments
Hi Andy.
I am using both when travelling as I often cross Europe from one side to the other. And if I don't have much time, I do it sometimes by plane...
My experience is the following:
- with the train you reach the centres of the cities very easy, with the plane you have to catch an extra bus and pay for it!
- with Ryanair you get cheap tickets, but you have to pay extra taxes, extra for your backpack and so on... in total, a global Interrail pass is cheaper, even paying sometimes supplements!
- by plane, you don't see a lot of the countries... only the blue sky (okay, that's nice!! *smile* ... and you feel the distance you travel!
- in trains you meet a lot of different people - can be very interesting ...
- you only get cheap prices by Ryanair, when booking a long time in advance (most of times). With InterRail, just buy your ticket one week before you start , jump into a train and travel to the places where the sun is shining. you are very very flexible...! :)
- and by train it is much more ecological !!!
Sometimes it is good to start your tour by plane... for example, fly to a city somewhere far away in Europe, stay there for two or three days and then start your InterRail tour...
By plane it is fast, but you aren't flexible. By train it is adventure and you meet much more cool people!
And in total, if you calculate the real (!!!) costs, it is cheaper by Interrail.
This is my personal opinion. I am travelling now more than 10 years trough the whole Europe (and yes, there are still a lot of nice places to discover) ... :)
Maybe there are still some more experiences of other travellers... as it is an interesting topic for the forum !! :)
Interrail information: [u]https://rail.cc/en/interrail[/u]
Have some sunny days by train or by plane.
Peter :)
Andy
Traveller
4 comments
Hey Peter, thanks for the useful advice. I still haven't made up my mind what to go for, plane or rail, or both, but you're right about flexibility and the extra charges on Ryan Air. I'm still not sure what my budget will be and that would be a factor, but my plan is to concentrate on a few cities, rather than try to see everything in 2-3 weeks. What I have in mind is Barcelona, Lisbon (or Porto), one or two cities in France, Brussels, Berlin and maybe a Scandinavian city (Helsinki or Stockholm).
If anyone has stories to share, that would be much appreciated.